This blog is dedicated to treating everyone - clients, prospects, friends, and family - as valuable partners. We should show them our gratitude through all our actions, including our marketing.

October 20, 2013

Appreciation Marketing – Networking Don’ts

In various postings we have discussed
marketing practices which are successful in building relationships and benefit
all the parties involved. There are some behaviors which prevent successful
relationship building and thus fail to positively market our businesses. Are we
guilty of any of these practices?

Networking is the most effective
form of marketing in which we can engage. It is reasonably priced, requires
little time, and includes a personal aspect that is unbeatable. If we network
correctly, we gain successful results; networking incorrectly guarantees us
failure.

Never engage in what I term
“drive-by networking”. This is the practice of attending a networking meeting
once, making contacts, and never attending the group’s meetings again. Doing so
brands us as those who come to a group to get what we can without making a
commitment to contribute to the group’s future.

Afterward, the term also applies
to the person who “milks” the people that they meet for referrals before
establishing a networking relationship and providing any referrals or advice in
return. We must contribute without keeping score, and we must provide for the
common good of everyone. Remember karma and be of service to others first.

If we don’t like a group when we
first visit, we have the right to not return for another meeting. However, we
might want to attend a few meetings to see if we can help someone else with a
referral or some advice. Giving before we try to get is a better practice than
getting and never giving. Don’t be known as the person who milks the cow
without feeding it.

We must not monopolize the time of
those whom we meet at a meeting. We should chat for a short period to establish
a basis to meet the person for a later, longer meeting. Then move on after
telling the other person we will call to chat longer. Perhaps we can make the
appointment at this time for the later meeting, but don’t have the more
in-depth conversation at the networking meeting.

Collect business cards from everyone
we can in order to follow up with everyone. Enter their information into your
contact management system, with notes. Notes should include every phone call
and meeting details. The more information that we include the better we will be
in our relationship building and support of each other. Never prejudge anyone,
and try to assist the other person to network better and more effectively.

Make relationship building the
primary reason for contacting others, following up, and subsequent meetings.
Business building will follow along after successful relationship building. Do
not press business details before getting to know someone. We must know what
someone else needs before we try to market what we have. If someone accuses us
of wanting only to sell to them, offer to let them sell to us first.

Marketing is
attempting to have everyone fall in love with us, and everything that we do is
marketing, either good or bad. If we engage in good marketing, the sale will
fall into our laps. Don’t stop marketing to your prospects after they become
clients; their referrals will make us more successful than their purchases. Please
leave your comments here, or email me at Jim@SOC4Now.com,or call me at 360-314-8691.